Vere Hunt was born in 1761.  He became a soldier, and served in the Irish Volunteers, a militia body set up to defend Ireland for Britain, during the absence of the regular army during the American War of Independence.  He raised three infantry regiments for the government during the troubled times in the late eighteenth century, and for this he was created a baronet- Sir Vere, in December 1761.  He married Elinor Petty, the daughter of Lord Glentworth, who was at that time, Bishop of Limerick.  As part of his marriage settlement, he received an interest in a theatre in Limerick and this led to his setting up his own theatre company.  For two years they toured Limerick and Munster, performing plays.  The venture however, did not, make him much money and at the end of this time he gave up his interest in the company.

 Vere Hunt also purchased the island of Lundy, off the coast of Devon. This island enjoyed, (and still enjoys), a measure of autonomy from the laws of mainland Britian, and Hunt was able to print his own coins and stamps.  He served as a member of parliament for the borough of Askeaton.  In 1800, Sir Vere Hunt, voted in favour of the Act of Union between Britain and Ireland, which resulted in the loss of the independent Irish parliament based in Dublin.  Shortly afterwards, and very probably as a result of his vote, he was rewarded by being grants the weighmastership of Cork, which was worth an income of £600 per year.

 The following amusing apocryphal anecdote helps give us an insight into Hunt's character.  He was once passing a courtroom in Limerick while a case was in progress.  The accused was a young man who had been convicted of killing another man in a faction fight, a pastime which was all too common in Ireland during that period.  The sentence which the judge was obliged to pass was one of death, but because the defendant was so young, the judge was hesitant about taking this action.  In an attempt to save the young man, the judge asked if there was anyone in court who would speak as to the boy’s character.  However, the boy came from a poor background and as a result there was no one of influence present to speak on his behalf.  

 Sir Vere heard what was going on in the courtroom, and spoke up to the boy. "You are a queer boy that don't know a friend when you see him", he said. The boy seized his opportunity and said, "Tis myself that is proud to see your honour this day".  Supposedly, the judge then asked Sir Vere what he knew of the boy’s character.  He replied, totally strictly truthfully, "From the very first day that ever I saw him to this minute I never knew anything of him that was not very good". The boy was not hanged. Needless to say, that was the "very first time" that Hunt had ever seen the boy.  This incident illustrates something in Hunt's character that was unfortunately, rarer in some of the landlord classes of his day.  He always had great sympathy with the poorer classes and his tenants, and though he was the landlord, he could always identify with them and their struggles.  

 Hunt was removed from the Commission of the Peace for what was viewed as excessive leniency to offenders.  His thoughts on this, as recorded in his diary, also give us an insight into his character.

"I had the consoling reflection that the conduct which removed me from the Commission of the Peace, had been the means of rendering incalculable service to the poor of the country, and keeping the neighbourhood in perfect quiet, of saving my poor neighbours from transplantation, by keeping them in obedience to laws without tyranny or cruelty towards them.”

 At a meeting of the Grand jury in Limerick he suggested that tenants be given an abatement of rent because the times were particularly hard.  However his proposal was rejected. His generosity in dealing with his tenants is often seen in his diaries, when a death has taken place, Hunt always contributed generously to collections for coffins or a wake if the person was poor and did not have enough money left.  He was a supporter of Catholic emancipation, though he himself was Protestant, and was obviously disappointed when it was defeated, as is shown by the following quotation from his diary.  

May 1813. "Met Major Sirr near the Castle, (Dublin) who stopped me and told me exultingly, as if I had been, which God forbid, an enemy to Catholic emancipation, that the question was lost, a majority of four being against it in the Commons. I surprised him not a little, when I replied, I was most heartily concerned to hear it".

 He also had a keen sense of humour which often comes to the surface in his descriptions of day to day life, for example, his description of the Archbishop of Cashel and his son-in-Iaw, as "a lank prelate and a puny peer”.  

 Hunt’s involvement with Glengoole began in the late 1790's, and came about as a result of the development of the coalmines.  He foresaw the coal becoming an important resource, and the area developing generally.  Involvement in earnest with the project began in 1802.  Hunt's plans for Glengoole were both far reaching and widespread.  He built barracks, a jail, a school, and a Chapel for his Catholic tenants.  He arranged for the Dublin-Cork mail-coach to pass through Glengoole on its route.  Sir Vere changed the name of the settlement to New Birmingham, in the prospect of the village repeating the dramatic expansion that that British city had made in the Industrial Revolution.  Few locals use Vere Hunt’s official name for the village in everyday conversation.  He populated the town with masons, carpenters, tradesmen of all types and some of his tenants from Curragh.  Hunt also planned to eventually have a link between the Grand Canal and New Birmingham.

 Hunt advanced his own money for the building of the Chapel, until money could be collected from the tenants for the purpose.  He was very friendly with the parish priest Fr. Meighan, and often mentions, in his diary, having meals with him.  He established a residence for himself at Shelbourne, and lived there for most of the time in an attempt to make the project work.  He spared no effort in his attempt to make the town work, often advancing his own money for buildings etc., and making many trips to Dublin in an attempt to secure official recognition for what he was doing. He encountered many difficulties, lack of money, lack of help he had been promised by various officials.

 There was also an apathy among the tenants and locals within the area which eventually contributed to the defeat of the project.  Although Hunt was much more concerned with their well-being than many of his fellow landlords at that time, he was still the "landlord", while he might treat them well, they were still wary of him.  They simply did not share his visions for the development of the area.  Another factor which contributed to the eventual failure of the Glengoole project were problems concerning the coalmines.  During Hunt’s lifetime the mines failed financially.  This was in part because of transportation costs and related matters.  Irish coal was more expensive to purchase than imported coal when it was sold in many native towns and cities.  In Waterford, it was possible to sell coal which had been imported from Whitehaven for 4 shillings a barrel, while , Kilkenny or Slieveardagh coal cost 8 shillings per barrel.  This obviously made it difficult to sell Irish coal, and it was on the prosperity of the mines that most of Hunt's dreams were pinned. 

 Another aspect contributing to the failure to establish a ‘New Birmingham’ was the fact that while coal was a vital fuel in the Industrial Revolution- it was the presence of coal and iron ore in the one locality that was the key to most industrial expansion in the period.  Glengoole/ New Birmingham, no more than the rest of Ireland had little or no iron reserves. 

 Hunt continued to struggle to build up town until the end of 1816. He died in 1818, and is buried in Curragh Chase. The estates were inherited by his son Sir Aubrey De Vere, who sold off some of the Glengoole part in his lifetime.  On his death it passed to his son, Sir Stephen.  He was very active in promoting the Irish interest during the famine, and even travelled with a group of penniless Irish emigrants to Canada, to see exactly what conditions on the infamous "coffin ships" were like for himself.  When he returned he brought the bad conditions to the attention of the government in England, and it resulted in some improvements being made in the situation.  The remaining Glengoole estates were eventually sold off under the Encumbered Estates Act, though the family continued to live in Curragh Chase, unit it was destroyed by fire in the 1940's.  

 All that remains of Sir Vere Hunt’s dream to create an industrial powerhouse in the midst of the Slieveardagh Hills are a few architectural and cultural remnants and the village’s official ordnance survey name that points to the great dreams of a visionary, energetic and decent man.